miracle (miracle) wrote in luke_noah, @ 2008-07-28 16:24:00 |
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Original poster: lucky4me1
Title: Happy Birthday
Author: lucky4me1
Rating: PG
Summary: This was written at the time of the army enlistment story
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. They belong to ATWT, PGP and CBS, no profit is intended
Luke loved these lazy Sunday mornings in New York. Since he moved here two and a half years ago, he thrived on the pace of the city, always something to do, people to do them with. But there was something about the quietness of Sunday morning, time to read the Times or work on his writing, wrapped up in his solitude.
But today was different. He kept staring at the blank screen of his computer, the words where not coming today. Why had he seen the date on the newspaper, he had almost forgotten that today was his birthday, Noah’s birthday.
It has been almost two years since Luke had heard from him. Four years since the horrible day when Noah enlisted. Luke still could not believe he went through with it.
For the first year they were able to keep their long distance relationship alive. The hours of phone calls, the many e-mails and letters from basic training in Georgia through his tour in Japan, they were able to stay connected. That changed when he was shipped to Afghanistan, Noah became distant, not just in miles. His calls and e-mails became few and far between, until that day when he received the e-mail that would change his life, “Luke, I can’t do this anymore.”
It was a simple statement that tore Luke’s heart out. He tried to call and get Noah to talk to him, he wrote dozens of letters, begging him not to do this, but Noah would never respond. It was over.
Six months later Luke transferred to NYU and moved to New York to start over. He has a good life here, has made many friends, and even has had a couple of boyfriends, but nothing ever filled the part of him that Noah took away.
Luke closed his laptop, giving up any hope of getting any work done. He got up to make himself another cup of coffee when there was a knock on the door.
He opened the door and could barely believe what he saw in front of him. “Hi Luke”.
He could not really be here, maybe he was hallucinating. He shook his head, but that did not help. Noah was still standing there clad in his uniform, a duffle bag by his side.
“Noah, what are you doing here?”
“I am on my way to Georgia for my discharge, my tour of duty is up, and I had a 5 hour layover at JFK. Can I come in?”
“Um, sure” was all Luke could manage to say. “How did you find me?”
“I called the farm and your Grandma Emma gave me your address. It was really great to hear her voice, she was always so good to me.”
“Yeah, she is great, but that doesn’t answer my first question, what are you doing here?”
Noah took a deep breath and began rambling “Luke, I know I really screwed things up. I should have never run away from you and I was wondering if there was any chance we could start over. I will be in Georgia for two weeks, but then was thinking I could come back here, maybe go to school. We could see if we could be friends again, no more than that, I want more than that. What do you think?”
So many thoughts and emotions went through Luke in those few seconds, but his survival instinct kicked in, and he knew he would not survive if he let Noah back in and allowed him to hurt him again. He could not believe the words that came out of his own mouth “Noah, I can’t”.
Noah felt like he was punched in the stomach. “Oh, OK” he said lowering his eyes. “Are you seeing someone?”
“Yes”, Luke lied.
“Do you love him?” Noah asked looking back up to Luke who had somehow moved so far away. All Luke could do was shrug. “Of course you love him, you wouldn’t be with someone you didn’t love”.
Noah picked up his duffle bag and walked towards the door trying to hold back his tears. “I better get going, don’t want to miss my plane”.
Noah turned to Luke and said, “Just know I will always love you, and I hope you are happy”. With that he walked out the door, his hopes ripped from his heart.
Luke took a deep breath, you did the right thing, he thought to himself. He walked over to the window, lifted the shade just enough to see Noah walking away, his duffle slung over his shoulder. Just then Noah looked back over his shoulder as if he knew Luke was watching.
Snyder you’re an idiot, Luke thought to himself as he turned and ran to the door, not stopping to put on his shoes. He ran down three flights of stairs and out to the street to catch up with Noah who was still standing on the street corner.
Noah turned to see a barefooted Luke running towards him and before he knew what was happening, Luke was throwing his arms around him like he was never going to let go.
Luke whispered in Noah’s ear, “I forgot to wish you a Happy Birthday”.